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John Thornton

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    John Thornton reacted to Y2CJ41 for a article, #WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Thornton ready for another trip to state   
    By JEREMY HINES
    Thehines7@gmail.com
     
    Columbus North junior Justice Thornton is a patient person. In his view, patience is a key to success.
     
    Thornton uses his patience when competing against his family in his favorite board game, Monopoly. He learns what his opponents are trying to do, then he figures out a way to counter their strategy. He’s got a pretty good success rate against his older brother and his two sisters.
     
    But Thornton is not just patient on family game night. He uses the same approach on the wrestling mat where he is a three-time Conference Indiana champion as well as three time sectional and regional champion.
     
    “Monopoly is a game about thinking,” Thornton said. “You have to figure out how you’re going to play. It really correlates to wrestling. In wrestling, you have to figure out what your opponent does and you have to use that against them.”
     
    According to Columbus North coach Matt Joyce, Thornton uses his smarts to be successful on the mat.
     
    “He is extremely competitive, in a good way,” Joyce said. “He really enjoys wrestling. He’s a really smart wrestler. He knows where he can wrestle well. He’s really broadened his technique too as he’s gotten older.”
     
    Thornton agrees.
     
    “There are some wrestlers that are really fast and athletic,” he said. “There are some guys that are just absolute powerhouses. I like to think my strength is in my technique. I’m not the fastest or the strongest, but I win with technique.
     
    Justice qualified for state last year. He did not advance past the Friday night round. This year he’s hoping to change that. He has his sights set on standing on top of the podium.
     
    Last season Justice was wrestling in semistate against Brady Ison. It was a close match. Ison went for a front headlock and it ended up causing Justice to black out for 30 seconds. He then had to injury default to fourth place.
     
    “We had to take Justice to the hospital to get checked out,” Joyce said. “He was OK, but that set him up for a tough Friday night, drawing a No. 1 semistate champ in the first round. This year he’s going out there and trying to take care of business.”
     
    Thornton is one of nine Columbus North wrestlers competing in the Evansville semistate Saturday. Thornton, Cohen Long and Asher Ratliff all enter the competition as regional champions. Thornton is currently 31-1 on the year at 138 pounds. Long, a freshman, is 28-8 at 132 and Ratliff, a sophomore, is ranked No. 9 at 157 with a 35-2 record.
     
    “Asher is the starting quarterback for the football team and just broke the school’s single season take-down record,” Joyce said.
     
    Nolan Riley, Josiah Green, Luke Spurgeon, Evan Saevre, Keller DeSpain and Jose Ramirez will also be competing at the semistate for Columbus North.
     
    Last season Thornton was the lone Bulldog to advance to state.
     
    “I really hope I have some teammates with me this year,” Thornton said. “Asher has a decent draw for semistate. Cohen wrestles a kid he lost to earlier in the season but we’re going to help him prepare for that. Luke is someone I practice with a lot. I hope some of these guys have a great day Saturday.”
     
    As for his own goal, Thornton isn’t satisfied with just making it to state.
     
    “My goal is to win the ticket round on Saturday,” he said. “Then I want to go into that championship match. It will be close, but hopefully I can get my hand raised there. Then I’ll go ahead and win on Friday night of the state finals and then on Saturday I want to be the one standing on top of the podium when it’s all over.”
  2. Like
    John Thornton reacted to Y2CJ41 for a article, #WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Volz rewriting Eastern Hancock record books   
    By JEREMY HINES
    Thehines7@gmail.com
     
    Eastern Hancock senior Cameron Volz isn’t looking for attention. But, when you climb the state wrestling rankings, lose by one point to a returning state champion and have the opportunity to do something no other wrestler in his school has accomplished in 22 years, you can’t hide from the spotlight.
     
    Volz was asked if there was anything about him that would be interesting to readers. He thought for a second, then asked his mom.
     
    “Well, you broke the school record for career wins,” his mom said.
     
    But Volz didn’t want to talk about that.
     
    “No mom, not that. I don’t care about that,” he said. “That’s not what I want people to know.”
     
    After thinking for a moment, Volz came up with his answer.
     
    “I really just want people to know that I have a big heart,” he said. “I want to leave a footprint in people’s lives.”
     
    He’s certainly leaving his mark on Royal wrestling. Volz is currently ranked 14th in the 132-pound class. He’s ranked No. 2 in the New Castle semistate. He owns the school record for wins, but he’s not even sure how many he has (somewhere around 140 he estimates). He is also vying to become the first Eastern Hancock wrestler to place in the state tournament since 2002.
     
    “Cameron is a hard worker,” Eastern Hancock coach Sam Pfaff said. “You have to be in order to become the level of wrestler Cameron is. He’s got a great mind set. He’s like a true student of the game. He’s always watching film, learning, and asking questions.”
     
    That studying helped Volz close a gap with New Castle’s Tylin Thrine – the returning state champion and the No. 2 ranked grappler in the weight class. During the regular season Thrine handled Volz, winning 5-1. But in the Centerville sectional final the match was much closer.
     
    Volz scored a first-period takedown in the match. In the end, Thrine prevailed by a single point, 4-3.
     
    “We went into this one with a little bit of a different attitude,” Pfaff said. “We said, you’re the underdog here – you have nothing to lose. Throw everything you have at him. I told him he can’t be afraid, and to let it all fly. We spent all week working in different positions and trying to iron some things out. In the match we got the early takedown, but Tylin in his freakish athletic fashion, got right back to his feet.”
     
    Volz doesn’t believe in moral victories. According to him, he hates losing. But he knows matches like he has had with Thrine can only help him in the future.
     
    “I’m grateful for those opportunities,” Volz said. “Those opportunities make me better and hopefully I make him better as well.”
     
    Volz brings a vast skillset to the mat.
    “Cameron is incredibly athletic and very fast,” Pfaff said. “He has incredible technique. He has to wrestle with confidence though. Going back to the Thrine match, he showed he is a better wrestler when he goes out there without fear and doesn’t worry about the end result. When he does that, he’s really, really solid and can hang with just about anyone.”
     
    Cameron’s freshman brother, Bradyn, won the 113-pound weight class in sectional. Cameron loves working with Bradyn on the mat, as well as with the Eastern Hancock youth program.
     
    “I like coaching,” Volz said. “I feel like I’m pretty good at it. I know a lot about wrestling and I try to show that to the younger guys.”
     
    In his personal life, Volz has dealt with a lot of adversity. The adversity isn’t something he wanted to delve into for this article, but Pfaff said it’s something that shaped Volz into who he is today.
     
    “He’s had some personal stuff in his life that he’s had to overcome,” Pfaff said. “That has really figured into the mindset he brings to wrestling. There are some things he’s had to experience in life that have shaped his view. That’s helped him in a way. He’s experienced adversity in his personal life and he’s able to bring that to the mat. When things get tough, he knows how to push through and gut them out.”
     
    The last Eastern Hancock wrestler to place in state was Keith Oliver in 2002.
     
    “I definitely want to change that this year,” Volz said. “But if I can’t, hopefully my brother can. He’s my project and I love seeing him succeed.”
     
    Volz will wrestle Saturday in the Richmond regional.
  3. Like
    John Thornton reacted to Y2CJ41 for a article, #WrestlingWednesday with Jeremy Hines: Pacers ready to take the next step   
    By JEREMY HINES
    Thehines7@gmail.com
     
    David Wolf was surprised to learn a few years back that Switzerland County High School even had a wrestling program. Now, in addition to being the Chief of Police in Vevay, the county seat, he’s also the wrestling coach.
     
    His goal with both jobs is to make a difference in his community. He’s certainly doing just that.
     
    Before Wolf, the Pacers had never had a single wrestling sectional champion. This year the team had three. Two of those wrestlers went on to win the school’s first regional championships. Wolf is hoping the success keeps coming.
     
    “It feels awesome to see what these guys are accomplishing,” Wolf said. “I don’t do this to praise myself. I do it for the kids. To see them reach their goal is amazing. We sent six kids to regional this year. We had never had more than two go before. It’s just awesome.”
     
    Wolf’s strategy has been simple. Make the team a family. He coached his own twin sons, who went on to be the first two Pacer wrestlers to ever qualify for semistate. Now three of the four coaches on the staff have kids that wrestle on the team.
     
    “Our number one thing is that we want to create that family culture,” Wolf said. “We want to be positive figures to the team. I want to be a positive influence and we want to look out for each other.”
     
    This season the Pacers have four wrestlers qualify for the Evansville semistate. Freshman Peyton Richards goes in as a regional champ at 120 pounds.
     
    Peyton’s mental mindset is on a whole new level,” Wolf said. “His drive, his will to work, it’s hard to match. I haven’t seen anyone that mentally prepares the way he does. He wakes up at 5:30 every morning and practices in his basement. He leads by example.”
     
    Sophomore Gabe Rose won regional at 138 pounds.
     
    “Game is a little bulldog,” Wolf said. “He is mentally prepared. He is physically prepared. The kid doesn’t like losing and it drives him to do better. He lost to a kid earlier in the season and since then they have wrestled two more times and Gabe won in the first period. He is on a mission.”
     
    Freshman Ethan Rose (Gabe’s brother) finished second in regional to qualify for semistate.
     
    “Ethan is an animal,” Wolf said. “If he ever makes it to 106 pounds he can be a state contender. He walks around at about 96 pounds and eats everything he wants. He has to drink two bottles of water to qualify. He’s outsized, bad, but he’s a fighter.”
     
    Sophomore Dakota Fields placed third at 113 pounds in the Jeffersonville regional.
     
    “Dakota quit wrestling for a few years and just came back this year,” Wolf said. “He didn’t wrestle as a freshman. He came back and has been a huge asset to this team. He’s a hard worker and he’s an all-around great kid.”
     
    Part of the reason for the Pacers’ success is the youth program in the area.
     
    “We are finally getting kids in high school that have come up through our youth programs,” Wolf said. “My assistant coaches started the youth programs and it has helped us tremendously.”
     
    The Pacers are a very young team and Wolf has hopes that in the next couple of years the team can qualify for 1A Team State.
     
    “We don’t lose anybody after this year,” Wolf said. “We are a freshman and sophomore led team.”
     
    The team’s success has not gone unnoticed in the community.
     
    “With this success the recognition is really growing,” Wolf said. “People keep coming up to me in town and they talk about how awesome our team is doing. The community is growing and recognizing our success. More and more people are coming to our home meets.”
     
    Before this year, Switzerland County had never had a winning season in wrestling. They finished this season with a dual meet record of 24-6.
     
    As the Chief of Police, Wolf deals with a lot of problems on a daily basis. In the short time it took to interview for this article multiple people in the community came up asking for his help with things related to his job as a policeman. He tries to handle each issue in a positive manner and be a good influence on the community, just like he does with his team. He learned from the former police chief, James Richards. Richards was the Chief of Police for 16 years. Now he’s an assistant wrestling coach for Wolf.
     
    “We want to be positive figures to these kids,” Wolf said. “I’m excited for these guys. I’m excited for the future of the program. My coaches invest 100 percent in this program. We really think we are going to turn some heads in the next few years.”
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